DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURE IN QUALITATIVE RESEARCH

Data Collection Procedure in Qualitative Research

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Data Collection Procedure in Qualitative Research

Data Collection Procedure

Not all participants will be able to think of five adjectives right away. Be sure to make the word relationship clear enough to be heard in this sentence. Some participants do use "relationship" adjectives to describe the parent, but some just describe the parent herself --e.g., "pretty"... "efficient manager"--as though they had only been asked to "pick adjectives to describe your mother". These individual differences are of interest only if the participant has heard the phrase, "that reflect your childhood relationship" with your mother. The word should be spoken clearly, but with only slight stress or emphasis. Some participants will not know what you mean by the term adjectives, which is why we phrase the question as "adjectives or words". If the participant has further questions, you can explain, "just words or phrases that would describe or tell me about your relationship with your (mother) during childhood". The probes provided below are intended to follow the entire set of adjectives, and the interviewer must not begin to probe until the full set of adjectives has been given. Be patient in waiting for the participant to arrive at five adjectives, and be encouraging. This task has proven very helpful both in starting an interview, and in later interview analysis. It helps some participants to continue to focus upon the relationship when otherwise they would not be able to come up with spontaneous comments. If for some reason a subject does not understand what a memory is, you might suggest they think of it like an image they have in their mind similar to a videotape of something which happened when they were young. Make certain that the subject really does not ...